


The Way You Look Tonight

by bizuria



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bizuria/pseuds/bizuria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kendra is coerced into going to her senior prom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kendra had slain the demon king. She had fought at the Battle of Zzyzx, she had survived three separate towers filled to bursting with death traps in order to retrieve the keys to the Demon Prison. She had saved her own preserve multiple times, and she was the handmaiden to the Fairy Queen herself.

She was not going to bother with Senior Prom.

"Kendra, this isn't an optional thing, not really!" Her friend, Dana, had been needling her about it since the first posters had been hung last week. "It's an experience! It's probably the most important part of being a Senior!"

"Right, and preparing for college is completely unimportant." Kendra retorted.

"You know what I mean. It's a night you remember  _for the rest of your life and you can't just stay home._ "

They were walking out to the parking lot on a Wednesday afternoon. Kendra had offered to drop Dana off before she and Seth took on the almost 30-minute drive it took to get back home to Fablehaven. Seth was leaning up against the car when she and Dana approached.

"Hey Dana," Seth said as they climbed into the car. Seth took the back, sitting in the middle seat and leaning forward so he was almost in line with the girls in the front.

"Seth, back me up on this, " Dana said as she climbed into the car, "Senior Prom is important, right? Definitely something Kendra should not miss?"

A wide grin spread over Seth's face. Kendra rolled her eyes and started the car.

"Glad we're finally bringing this up," he said, "Kendra is definitely going to be attending. And since I know she's completely lame, I have already scouted out some potential dates."

"I'm not going!" Kendra protested. "It's a waste of time. I don't want to find a date, or a dress, and it's all completely overpriced. And then you have to do dinner too."

"Don't all those things sound like fun?" Dana asked.

"Honestly? I'd rather be home." Kendra replied.

"Well, you're going to get asked, either way." Seth hinted, just as they pulled up at a stop light. Kendra turned to face him.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, really," he said in a tone that suggested he most certainly had done something. "I just wanted to make sure you got asked." He looked ready to burst with laughter.

"Who?" she said, getting angry.

"Verl."

Kendra groaned. Verl had had a crush on Kendra for almost four years now, since they had first met when Kendra and her family had taken refuge with many of Fablehaven's creatures around the Fairy Queen's shrine. The fact that Verl was a satyr was not the only reason Kendra thought he would make a less than ideal prom date. She would have to get Seth back for this. Turning down Verl was never very fun--or easy.

"He's our... neighbor." Kendra explained, seeing Dana's inquisitive look. "Not exactly what you'd call a hot date."

"Kendra, having a date isn't even a big deal! Go stag if you want, but just  _go."_

The argument continued all the way until Dana was inside her house. Seth climbed into the front seat as Kendra pulled back onto the road.

"You'd better be joking about Verl asking me to prom."

Seth just smiled. Kendra groaned. They spent the rest of their drive with the radio on while she contemplated ways she might let Verl down politely, and what particularly nasty kind of prank she and Warren could pull on Seth to get him back.


	2. An interlude

Kendra was sitting on her bed, caught somewhere between being glad to have some peace and quiet at the end of the day, and at the same time quite bored. Having finished her homework hours ago, she’d checked through all her social media, finding nothing of interest, and she’d decided against pulling up another episode of Gilmore Girls. She thought about how she really needed to find a new book. But there she was, not doing anything, just sort of staring at the ceiling.

She did have a nice room. It was the one Vanessa had stayed in her first summer there. Seth had completely taken over the attic bedroom, as he had too much tendency to make noise in the middle of the night to be allowed to sleep on the same floor as the adults. With the room cleared of all the strange-looking creatures, and Vanessa becoming a really genuine friend, the room had been wiped of the bad memories that had taken place there.

The clock on Kendra’s bedside table told her it was 9:30 in glowing red letters. Still too early for her to really want to go to sleep. There was a little gold coin sitting on top of the clock. Sighing a little, she reached over and picked it up. It was a communicator, given to her by Bracken. Just like the ones they’d used back when the world was ending. She ran her finger clockwise around the edge of the coin. It hummed to life in her palm, waiting for a response.

Kendra had made a habit of using the coin whenever she had a moment. Bracken was traveling more often than not, running missions or errands for either his mother or for Agad. They were still working to finalize some of the locks that guarded the new Demon Prison. While they were using the same skeleton of a plan as they did with Zzyzx, there was a lot to do to secure it, and new tricks and complexities were being added to make it much harder to open. Of course, this was a really good thing to do, but it meant that Bracken was almost always gone, soliciting the skills of specifically talented people or beings, collecting hard-to-get materials, and conducting negotiations. As a result, Kendra hadn’t seen him in about a month, and as he could be almost anywhere in the world at any given moment, their time zones rarely aligned. They hadn’t been available at the same time and been able to talk for almost two weeks now.

She waited patiently, staring at the coin for a couple of minutes. Bracken had an identical coin, and wherever it was, it would be growing warm, humming a little, trying to get his attention. It had been long enough by now that Kendra knew he was probably busy, or asleep. But she kept waiting. Maybe he just hadn’t noticed yet. Maybe he was just about to wake up.

Officially, they’d been dating for a little over two years now, since the middle of Kendra’s Sophomore year. It had been funny, at the start. Because Bracken really is centuries old, and youthful as he may seem and feel, that’s a hard thing to completely ignore. He wouldn’t age and move forward in his life in the same way that Kendra would. So at the beginning, they were hesitant, and worried, because what would become of their future? They thought about everything they said or did together, every feeling was expressed carefully, and usually included some line about “you’re so young” or “we’ll see where this takes us.” But sometime after Kendra’s sixteenth birthday, she thought _Oh screw this_.

She knew he was coming to visit her and she’d come stomping up to him in the woods, full to the brim with determination and nervous energy, not even bothering with “hello.”

“It’s like this.” She had said, a little out of breath, “I’m sick of this in-between. I care about you. I mean, I care about you _so much_ and I’m just _done_ with us telling each other that ‘we’ll wait and see’ and that we have all the time in the world. Because we don’t. We’ve been holding off each other because we don’t know what the future is going to be and I’ve decided that’s the stupidest thing we could possibly do, because I care about you now and however uncertain the future is for us and whatever it might be, I want to face it with you. And if everything goes bad eventually, that’s fine, it probably will, but can’t we be happy for a little while first? Because I think that if whatever this thing is just piddles out and I never even get to kiss you, I’ll never forgive myself as long as I live.”

And that was it. She’d said what she needed to say, and then some. She stared at him, feeling her face get redder as she realized how much she’d over-spoken. He started back, startled. And then, in one swift motion, he crossed over to her, planted a hand around the back of her head, and kissed her.

Kendra had been kissed twice before. Never like that. She thought she might melt.

“You’re right,” Bracken had said, “You’re absolutely, completely right.”

That had been the beginning of it. It had been good since then. So good. And she tried not to be upset by how busy he was, by how hard it was to see him, or talk to him. But the simple truth of the matter was, she really, really missed him.

She pushed her finger back around the coin. Bracken wasn’t going to come. She’d try again tomorrow, but she kept the coin in her hand. Looking at it, turning it over. Holding onto something he’d given his magic to, so it held a little tiny part of him. She knew it was silly. Completely ridiculous. And yet there she was, in spite of herself.

There was a knock on the door, and a second later Warren poked his head in.

“Ken, you gotta come down and join my Monopoly team, Seth is killing me and it’s not fair.”

That was all the invitation Kendra needed to snap herself out of her mood. Jumping down from her bed, she followed Warren down to the living room, where Monopoly had taken up nearly all of the floorspace.

************************************************************************************************************ 

Somewhere in the Sahara Desert, Bracken sat down in his tent. It was a long day. What time was it in Connecticut? Was it too late? He pulled his little gold coin out of his bag, and slid his finger around the edge.

A few minutes later, he put it back in his bag. He must have missed her before she went to sleep. He sighed. He’d try again tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS TOOK AN ENTIRE YEAR.
> 
> MORE SOON THOUGH, I WROTE HALF OF THE NEXT CHAPTER BEFORE I DECIDED I NEEDED THIS ONE.


	3. Seth

Seth woke up early. It was Saturday, normally he would sleep in another hour or two, but he had half a plan on his mind and just enough excitement about it to coax him out of bed before he had to worry about bumping into Kendra. 

He met Warren in the kitchen. He was humming to himself as he searched the fridge. Taking out a bottle of milk and a carton of eggs, he turned to see Seth. 

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep for a few more hours?" He teased. 

"I need your help," Seth said, "I've got a great Kendra prank lined up, but I can't pull it off on my own." Warren regarded him with narrowed eyes, and then turned his attention to the coffee maker. 

"What's the plan?" He asked. 

"Kendra's prom is like two weeks away. I think I can trick her init thinking I brought Verl to school to ask her out, which would be hilarious, but I need someone to actually bring him out there while I'm at school."

"Verl can't leave Fablehaven, Seth."

"No, I know! But we have goats here, don't we? And if someone comes up to Kendra and says that there's a guy--you--outside with a goat, asking her to prom, where do you think her mind will go? Especially if I drop enough of the right kind of hints."

Warren grinned. They talked through the plan until Kendra came downstairs and interrupted the scheming. They both had to stifle a giggle when she walked into the room. 

The plot had been set, but it wasn't until late Thursday night that they found the perfect way to polish it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY. I'M BACK.   
> I know I have said "more updates soon !!!! :)" lots of times but I literally have another chapter finished. This one was short. It's just that my laptop is broken so it's handwritten and I'm done typing shit up on my phone for the day. So next one is tomorrow.   
> I'm telling myself I gotta finish this story before Dragonwatch comes out. Fingers crossed I manage that lol


	4. Goat

Kendra quickly turned the dial on the front of her locker, and pulled it open. Behind her, students were milling around. She could hear groups of people excitedly discussing weekend plans and getting ready to leave. She took her time going through what she wanted to take home and what was getting left in her locker. Did she really need to take her physics textbook? She might want to get some studying done--AP tests were only a few weeks away! But it was such a hassle to take the heavy book all the way home and back when it wasn't completely necessary. Before she could make a decision, Dana grabbed her by the shoulder, making her jump.

"What are you still doing here?" Dana said, "You have to get outside!"

Kendra looked at her blankly. "Why?"

"Because there is a guy outside with a goat of all things, and he's trying to ask you to Prom!" Dana was practically shouting with excitement. Kendra froze.

"You're sure it was a goat?"

Dana started trying to push her down the hallway. "Go see for yourself!"

Slamming her locker shut, Kendra hurried down the hallway, already feeling her face go red. Seth had been making jokes about Verl asking her to the dance all week, but she hadn't thought he would actually be dumb enough to bring a satyr to school! It was so irresponsible! And obviously it would be Warren with him, but how could he? Anger and embarrassment built inside her as she approached the double doors leading out into the parking lot. She wasn't going to be humiliated like this! She'd go out there, tell them off for being so irresponsible and stupid, and go straight to the car and drive home. 

Pushing through the doors, Kendra saw there was a crowd of people gathered around Warren's truck, which was blasting some cheesy pop song. She elbowed her way past the spectators, and stopped short.

Bracken.

Bracken was sat with his legs dangled over the edge of the open truck bed. He was petting a goat on a leash, and holding a sign that said "Will you GOAT to prom with me?" When he saw Kendra, he hopped down from the truck. 

Kendra was confused. She'd been so focused on her anger with Seth and Warren, she didn't really know how to react to seeing Bracken there. He was somewhere in Africa right now, wasn't he? The goat stomped away toward the cab of the truck. But that was Verl, wasn't it? Kendra blinked. Why was he a goat? She should be able to see him. She looked at Bracken, who was regarding her somewhat nervously. Had something happened?

"Why does Verl look like a goat?" She asked weakly. She heard the people watching from behind her giggle a little, and Warren and Seth howling with laughter from the front of the truck. Bracken shook his head a little and stepped forward. "That's just a goat," she realized. Bracken nodded, smiling. 

"You okay?" he asked.

"I just didn't expect to see you. It's been a while."

"I know. I'm sorry. I thought I'd make it up to you."

"You really want to go to a dance at my high school?" she asked. He shrugged. 

"I like dancing, and I like you. Do you want to go?"

Kendra smiled. "As long as I'm going with you, and not Verl."

She took Bracken's hand and guided him across the parking lot toward her car, leaving Warren and Seth to get the goat home. She stuck her tongue out at them when they made kissy faces at her through the windows of the truck. 

They spent the drive home trading stories about the last month since they'd seen each other. Kendra was genuinely fascinated by Bracken's tales of tracking down a pair of fairies in Central Africa who had an unusual sensitivity to the flow of time. He seemed to be equally interested in the details of Dana's latest dramatic interlude with her on-and-off, but despite it being the most exciting thing to happen to Kendra in the last month, she couldn't really fathom why he thought it was worth hearing. Halfway back to Fablehaven, they decided to put off going home and stopped at a park. They just walked around in the trees, still working their way through the long list of things they'd been saving up to tell one another.

Agad was still old. "I'm old," Bracken said, "But I don't feel very old.. I have quite literally existed for centuries longer than him, and he still managed to act like he was my dad the last time I saw him. It would almost be impressive, if it weren't so annoying."

The satyrs had started a campaign for a Playstation. "Grandpa's not even going to consider it. He thinks the TV is bad enough, and it probably is," Kendra said, "But Newel and Doren are hoping the world almost ends again so they can make a new deal."

"Raxtus asked about you a lot the last time I saw him. He really wants to come see you the next time he can."

"I mentioned you at dinner the other night and Vanessa barely even scowled. I think you're starting to grow on her."

"It still takes my eyes a minute to adjust whenever I see you."

"Your hair looks a little gold when you stand in the light like that."

"I really missed you."

"I really missed you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight I've literally written this chapter about four times since I started this fic? Hope you enjoy it. More soon!  
> Xoxoxo


	5. Fire

The next week passed quickly. 

At school, Dana (and several others) grilled Kendra almost constantly about the dashing stranger who had materialized out of nowhere to ask her to the dance. Kendra had never really mentioned Bracken to anyone at school, thinking it would be a little hard explaining to her friends that she was dating the son of the fairy queen. She’d been vague whenever she was asked questions about why she was single, or who she liked. Only Dana had known that Kendra had something with a “college boy,” but even she had thought it was just a crush. It was a little awkward for Kendra to navigate the growing web of lies about what her relationship really was, but Dana’s excitement over the whole ordeal multiplied Kendra’s. They had a good time talking over flowers and dresses and hairstyles.

Back at Fablehaven, Seth and Warren were still getting mileage out of Kendra’s “Why does Verl look like a goat?” line. At dinner the day it happened, they both repeated it several times, and by the end of the evening even Grandma Sorenson was laughing at it.

Tuesday afternoon, Kendra came outside to find several goats roaming the yard.

“Not funny,” Kendra called, looking around for someone hiding behind a tree.

“I agree, this isn’t funny at all!” a voice said. “Help us, Kendra, you’re the only one who can!” The voice was coming from the other end of the yard, near where a pair of goats were busy pulling the leaves off a cluster of bushes. Kendra gasped with only slightly believeable horror.

“What happened?” she said, coming toward the goats, “Is that really you?”

“It’s us! It’s us! Doren and me! We got too close to the hill over the Forbidden Chapel, and something happened. Some of Bahumat’s magic must have gotten through!”

“You can help us, though,” a second voice—Doren—said. “That blue fairy—“

“Shiara—“ added Newel.

“That’s the one! She said you have fairy magic that can fix us! All you have to do is climb on our backs and start singing in the fairy language.”

Kendra raised an eyebrow. “That simple?” she asked.

“Quickly, Kendra! Or it might be too late!”

Kendra smiled. “This sounds like some pretty potent magic. I’d better get some help.”

She ran inside, ignoring the protests emanating from the bushes. Bracken was sitting in the living room, reading.

“I need your help,” Kendra said. “Foiling a satyr prank.”

Bracken grinned and put the book down. On their way back to the satyrs, Kendra quietly explained the plan. 

“Look!” she said loudly, “here they are! You have to help me change them back!”

“That’s a potent spell,” Bracken responded. “Shiara was right about fixing it, but the magic is too strong. I think we need to put up a barrier to absorb the dark magic once we expel it from the satyrs.”

There were muffled giggles escaping from the bushes.

“Sounds like a fire barrier. We want to get rid of the dark magic quickly.” Kendra said.

Bracken sighed. “I think you’re right. Stan won’t be happy that we set his bushes on fire, but it’ll be worth it if we can rescue our friends.”

The snickering in the bushes stopped.

“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Newel said.

“Oh, I wouldn’t take any risks with your safety.” Bracken said. “Not ever. I take care of my friends.”

“Quickly, Bracken,” Kendra said, “let’s do this before it gets any worse.”

Kendra made eye contact with Bracken and counted to three on her fingers. At the same time, she started to make low, ominous humming sounds, and Bracken began to speak slowly.

“This should teach these idiots not to mess with us,” he said, using the secret fairy language.

In a rush, three figures burst from the bushes. Newel, Doren, and Seth rushed toward the woods. The satyrs were gone in an instant, but Seth stopped when he heard Bracken and Kendra’s laughter and saw that the bushes were not, in fact, on fire. He went a little red.

“I knew they were taking the joke too far,” he muttered.

“How dumb do you think I am?” Kendra said, “I’m gullible, not an idiot. And for the record, I don’t think I could even light a match with magic.”

Kendra and Bracken performed their fire spell as many times as possible for the rest of the day—any time anyone mentioned heat, fire, or tried to do any cooking. Seth didn’t say much.

By Thursday, Kendra had found her dress—something just a little sexier than she would have chosen had it not been borrowed from Vanessa’s closet. Friday they went shoe shopping. Again, she got something just a little less plain than she would have picked without Vanessa’s influence. She actually practiced walking around her room in them for a few minutes. Just in case.

As she lay in her bed Friday night, staring at the green dress hanging from her wardrobe, Kendra felt a buzz of excitement, and just the slightest twinge of nervousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOO. This chapter kind of ran away from me. But i've been running around like a chicken with no head since I posted the last chapter. I don't have a very well thought out plan for where this goes. 
> 
> the penultimate installment? idk one or two more. we'll see. 
> 
> thanks for still reading this lol
> 
> xoxoxoxoxoxoxo love you


	6. Blossom

Bracken knocked on the door to the backyard just after six on Saturday. Kendra and Vanessa had just finished Kendra’s makeup, and came downstairs when Grandma Sorenson called up to them. He was dressed in a grey suit, several shades darker than his hair, and holding a little brown package. When Kendra came in, he smiled. Kendra giggled.

“Your hair is in a bun!” she said.

Bracken blushed a tiny bit. “And yours is out of its ponytail. For the first time ever, I think,” he teased.

She elbowed him and pulled him into a hug. He smelled like flowers. When they separated, he handed her the package.

“From my mother,” he said, “And me. But she insisted on making it. She’s on a creative thing, lately. I think she’s getting bored as the renovation of our new kingdom gets closer to being finished.”

Kendra gasped a little when she opened the box. It was a corsage, definitely, but it was also probably one of the most beautiful things Kendra had ever seen. It was an iridescent purple-blue color, shaped a little like a wild rose. Kendra couldn’t think of a better way to describe its scent than just the absolute smell of springtime. Like walking outside on the first sunny day at the end of a long winter. Vines and miniscule flower buds braided together behind it into a wristband. 

Grandma and Vanessa were staring in awe.

“That’s not a Cirrus blossom,” Grandma said.

“It is. They started blooming a few weeks ago. Mother wanted to share the happy omen.”

“I’m really sorry,” Kendra said, “I’ve never heard of it.”

“There’s no reason you should have. They don’t bloom often, even in the fairy realm. When they do, it’s seen as a symbol of peaceful times to come. Having one with you is what you might call the most powerful good luck charm you can get, but it does hold a deep supply of potent magic.”

Seth, Warren, and Grandpa all came in just then. They were appropriately awed over the flower. 

“What an incredible gift!” Grandpa said. “You’ll have to take good care of it.” Kendra almost wondered if she should be taking it to the dance at all, but she assumed it would be okay, if that’s what the Queen had intended her to do. She was struck by the gravity of the gift though. She’d been given what was apparently an incredibly powerful magical plant, as something to wear on her arm at a high school dance. And it had been given to her by one of the most powerful and elusive beings to ever exist! It was strange—strange that it was happening, and strange that it felt so normal.

After everyone had a good look at the flower, and they had taken a few pictures, and endured a fair amount of teasing from Seth and Warren, Kendra and Bracken were finally able to take off. They got into the car, and drove off with the music blaring. They didn’t really have all that much to say on the drive. They just kept glancing over at each other and grinning. “You look really nice,” they’d say, and, “Thank you,” and sometimes just, “Hi.”

 

They met Dana and her date, Eliot, at an Indian restaurant fairly close to the dance venue, which was the ballroom of a hotel downtown. Dana immediately began to ask a series of questions which Bracken struggled to answer.

“So what are you studying. You’ve picked your major, right?”

“Yeah… it’s so hard to narrow it down.”

“Where are you from?”

“A really small town. I’m sure you’ve never heard of it.”

“So how did you two meet exactly? Because Kendra just said it was a long story.”

“Long story is probably the best way to put it, but I guess you could say my mom sort of set us up.”

“Where did you get her corsage. It’s beautiful!”

“The internet?”

“How do you get your hair like that? It’s such a great color. I’ve been thinking about dying my hair like that actually, so if you got it done here you should hook me up.”

“Yeah, I get it done when I visit home…”

Kendra spent most of the meal giggling quietly into her food while Bracken tried his best to keep up with Dana’s questions. Eliot just watched his date slowly become a hurricane of curiosity, and made small-talk with Kendra. They had a couple classes together, so they discussed the approaching finals and AP tests. 

After they finished dinner, and as they were leaving the restaurant for the dance, Dana gasped.

“Do you see that butterfly? It’s amazing!”

They turned to see an—admittedly beautiful—fairy hovering a few feet behind them. She was transfixed by something, but Kendra couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Once Dana and Eliot lost interest and continued towards their car, Bracken motioned for her to leave. The fairy snapped out of her reverie and flew off excitedly.

“Do you think she was following you?” Kendra whispered to him. Bracken was extremely popular among fairies.

“Maybe,” he said, “I’m not really sure. She might have just come across us by chance. Fairies don’t often live in cities, but it’s not unheard of.

The dance was crowded. The music was the ridiculous pop music that runs on the radio, and Kendra only recognized a handful of songs, but they still had a good time dancing. Bracken managed to lead her through a waltz during one of the slow songs.

“I was at Living Mirage when the waltz became popular, but the room that had a TV and pinball machines when we escaped didn’t have that technology yet, obviously. There were some instruments there, so we often used it for dancing.” He told her. People had started to look a little impressed with them. Most of the other slow-dancers were doing a typical hug-and-sway move.

After an hour or two, someone squealed a little, pointing at Kendra. “Butterfly!” She said in a stage whisper. Kendra looked down. There was a fairy hovering over the flower on her wrist. Not knowing what else to do, she slowly lifted her hand to her face. The fairy followed the flower, but otherwise took no notice.

“Hello,” she whispered in the fairy language. “It’s nice to meet you, but please go back outside.” The fairy glared at her, but flew away. Bracken elbowed her softly. Looking around the room, she saw people gawking at several fairies hovering in the air around them. More were trickling in through the doors and open windows.

“What do we do?” Kendra asked. Bracken took her hand and led her outside. Eventually they found a relatively deserted area of the hotel’s courtyard. A couple of fairies had followed them.

“What’s going on?” Bracken asked sternly.

“The Cirrus blossom,” responded a tiny voice. “It has not been seen on this earth in many decades. We felt compelled to visit it.

“Really? Do you know how much attention you’re attracting? It’s dangerous!”

“The mortals can’t see us,” she retorted.

“You have to leave.”

“You would deny us the opportunity to be near the blossom? We have not experienced its magic in a long time, it would do us all good.”

Bracken sighed. “I should have anticipated this, Kendra. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay!” she said, “Why don’t we just go to the park? We can sit and talk, and avoid upsetting the fairies.”

“Are you sure? I’m sure if I told them enough, they’d leave.”

“It was getting a little dull in there anyway, and I wouldn’t mind being around fewer people.”

Dana was sad to see them go, but they managed to leave pretty quickly after speaking to her. As they were on their way out, Kendra overheard someone wondering how the school could afford to have exotic butterflies at the dance. Kendra smiled.

They found a quiet place in the park they’d stopped in a week before. Pretty soon, more than a dozen fairies appeared. Kendra set her flower in the grass at her feet, and they congregated around it.

Kendra and Bracken sat down on the grass. He took her hand. She put her head on his shoulder. They sat there in silence for a long time, watching the soft glow of the fairies, and examining the stars.

“You know I love you, right?” Kendra said. They’d been together so long she felt that the sentiment had been assumed, but she realized she’d never actually said the words. He looked at her.

“You do?” he asked quietly. She nodded. He was quiet for a minute.

“I’m a solitary creature,” he said, “I have spent so much of my life alone. My kind rarely fall in love, and I never really expected that I would. But here I am, somehow, completely in love with a mortal. With a handmaiden to the Queen. With a girl. With… you. I hardly know how it happened, but I’m so glad that it did.”

Kendra leaned up and kissed him. It felt like the most perfect moment. An infinity of the world turning around them contained in just a few seconds.

Kendra would keep that flower forever. Even after it dried out, it sat in a box on her desk. Eventually it got placed in a deep glass frame and hung in the living room. The house has never quite stopped smelling faintly of sunshine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOOOOO  
> IT'S DONE!
> 
> this chapter was really hard to write, and i'm very sorry if there are any mistakes but it is after 1am.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading this, I'm sorry it took over a year to write.
> 
> Enjoy Dragonwatch!!!!!!!!


End file.
